CATEGORICAL ONTOLOGY OF COMPLEX SYSTEMS, META-SYSTEMS AND LEVELS: THE EMERGENCE OF LIFE, HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS AND SOCIETY

Relational structures of organisms and the human mind are naturally repre-sented in terms of novel variable topology concepts, non-Abelian categories andHigher Dimensional Algebra{ relatively new concepts that would be de¯ned inthis tutorial paper. A unifying theme of local-to-global approaches to organis-mic development, evolution and human consciousness leads to novel patterns ofrelations that emerge in super- and ultra- complex systems in terms of compo-sitions of local procedures [1]. The claim is defended in this paper that humanconsciousness isuniqueand should be viewed as an ultra-complex, global pro-cess of processes, at ameta-levelnot sub{summed by, but compatible with, hu-man brain dynamics [2]-[5]. The emergence of consciousness and its existenceare considered to be dependent upon an extremely complex structural andfunctional unit with an asymmetric network topology and connectivities{thehuman brain. However, the appearance of human consciousness is shown to becritically dependent upon societal co-evolution, elaborate language-symboliccommunication and `virtualʹ, higher dimensional, non{commutative processesinvolving separate space and time perceptions. Theories of the mind are ap-proached from the theory of levels and ultra-complexity viewpoints that thrownew light on previous semantic models in cognitive science. Anticipatory sys-tems and complex causality at the top levels of reality are discussed in thecontext of psychology, sociology and ecology. A paradigm shift towards non-commutative, or more generally, non-Abelian theories of highly complex dy-namics [6] is suggested to unfold now in physics, mathematics, life and cognitivesciences, thus leading to the realizations of higher dimensional algebras in neu-rosciences and psychology, as well as in human genomics, bioinformatics andinteractomics. The presence of strange attractors in modern society dynamicsgives rise to very serious concerns for the future of mankind and the continuedpersistence of a multi-stable Biosphere